Global venture for ex-hospital chief

John P. Ferguson, who transformed Hackensack University Medical Center from a community hospital into a billion-dollar-a-year business, is going international with plans for a chain of specialty hospitals in the Mideast and China.

Ferguson, the former president forced into retirement last year, is the chairman, chief executive officer and president of a new venture that expects to open a hospital soon in the wealthy Arab emirate of Dubai. The company has also signed a joint venture with a private Chinese health care firm with hospitals in Beijing and Shanghai.

These could be the first of 20 hospitals that cater to affluent travelers and residents of nations where the health infrastructure is not on par with that of the developed world, said Dr. Brian Mehling, founder and chief medical officer of the company, called Blue Horizon International LLC.

Saudi Arabia, Oman and other Arab nations, as well as Asia — places with international business and banking centers — are likely sites for the hospital chain, he said.

"Over the next 10 years, we'll have a network of hospitals around the world," Mehling said.

Mehling, an orthopedic surgeon in Hackensack, said he expects to perform his first operation in Dubai this summer.

The hospitals would allow patients to get premium care without having to travel to the West. When a member of an Arab ruling family needs a hip replacement or cancer treatment, for example, he or she usually travels to England or the United States, accompanied by dozens of family members, Mehling said.

Luxury touches

On its website, Blue Horizon says it will "provide extremely luxurious and comfortable surroundings and services, equal to those offered at a five-star hotel/spa, with accommodations for the family members of patients." Ferguson introduced such fine touches and décor at Hackensack during his tenure.

Mehling said he wanted Ferguson in the company because he "has a lot of experience in the running and management of a medical facility. All those awards, Joint Commission accreditations — all these hospitals are trying to establish a reputation like that. Hackensack already has it."

Joining Ferguson and Mehling on the management team is Doreen Santora, who serves as chief operating officer. Santora, formerly senior vice president for operations at Hackensack, resigned along with two other vice presidents after Ferguson's departure last June.

Ferguson left Hackensack after a scandal involving the hospital's hiring of then-state Sen. Joseph Coniglio as a consultant. Coniglio was convicted last year on charges related to the steering of more than $1 million in state grants to the hospital. In the aftermath of the federal trial, Ferguson stepped down both as Hackensack's president and as chairman of the board of the Martha's Vineyard Hospital. He owns a second home on the Massachusetts island.

Ferguson did not respond to several messages The Record left at his office requesting an interview.

Mehling said he approached Ferguson when he was still in charge at Hackensack to see if the medical center would be interested in affiliating with or sponsoring a hospital in Dubai. "There was and is interest, but there is no plan for active participation of Hackensack Hospital at this time," Mehling said.

"After John and Doreen left" the hospital, Mehling recounted, "I said, 'Do you think you guys would still be interested in working with us on the project?' "

The business was based at Mehling's medical practice in Hackensack until a recent move to an office on West 14th Street in Manhattan.

Growing economies

China, Korea and Dubai, as well other Arab states, are attractive investment targets for U.S. health care institutions eager to tap into their expanding economies.

A joint venture with Nanshan Memorial Medical Institute, known as Blue Horizon China, will provide health care services, including stem cell therapy, to local and overseas patients in China, according to a press release on Nanshan's website. Both Ferguson and Mehling are on the institute's advisory board, the website said.

Members of that board have a particular interest in the future of stem cell therapy in China, and some "have strong influence on government policy on stem cell and other biomedical applications, especially in China," the press release said. They "share the common belief that stem cell research holds a bright future for all of mankind if it is promoted properly."

Nanshan's managing director, Daniel Lu, is quoted in the release as saying, "the health care market in China is enormous." As the economy grows, he adds, "more and more people, especially those in the high income brackets, are looking for top-notch medical services."

In the Mideast, the Dubai royal family is committed to investing $110 million in Blue Horizon, Mehling said.

Incentives in Dubai

The Dubai project includes the acquisition of a 35-bed hospital — the former American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery Hospital — which has potential for expansion, as well as an adjacent plot of land on which a new 60-bed hospital is planned, according to Mehling.